Prime Minister Announces Institute of Coding

Published: January 26, 2018

Prime Minister Theresa May spoke at the World Economic Forum 2018 in Davos about the new Institute of Coding.

Launched as part of the Industrial Strategy, £20 million will be invested into over 60 organisations, made up of universities, businesses and industry experts as part of the Institute of Coding. This is to help fuel the next generation of digital specialists and tackle the UK’s digital skills gap.

Organisations involved in this new scheme include Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, BT, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), 25 universities such as the University of Bath and the Open University. In addition, professional bodies like CREST and the British Computer Society will take part too.

This will help the UK “embrace technological change and give us a more competitive edge in the future”, says Sam Gyimah, Universities Minister. These organisations will work together to “help graduates build the right skills, in fields from cyber security to artificial intelligence to industrial design.”

Pilot programmes will take place in Devon (Grey Matter’s home county), Leeds, Somerset, West Midland, Lincolnshire and Stoke-on-Trent. Online digital courses will be created to test the use of artificial intelligence and edtech, thanks to a further £30 million investment by the Government.

The government’s £20 million investment will also be matched by the same amount from industry. This will include training and equipment contributions too.